The Handout - Western Connecticut State University...cookies and your favorite pint of Ben and Jerry’s, cut the ice cream with a knife sideways, and place it between the 2 cookies.

by Maggie Walsh, Centennial ARM

The Handout An ARM Newsletter A publication of the Department of Housing & Residence Life Division of Student Affairs

Volume 8, #3 November, 2019

In this edition of The Handout: Stay Sharp Over the Holidays page 1 Maggie Walsh

Fun Sodexo Food page 2 Michael Newman

Gab & GROW—Remember These? page 2 HRL

When Is Self-Care NOT Self-Care page 3 Caitie Barry

DEADlines: Beating Destructive Procrastination Page 4 Audrey Redpath

Rock Your Finals! Page 5 Tamia Scott

Optimizing Sleep Page 6 Sarah Slaiby

Staying Safe on Campus Page 7 Angela Nicastro

Housing Announcements Page 7 HRL

At last, we have reached the end of the semes-ter!! Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on a semester well done. After months of stress and hard work, we all deserve a break, and that’s exactly what winter intersession is for! Being reunited with pets we haven’t seen in a long time, spending time with friends and loved ones, and finally being able to relax after a lot of hard work are all very important things. But it’s also important to keep ourselves sharp—Intercession is only for a month, after all, and before we know it, we’ll be back into the grind once again. Now, I certainly do not want to cause any anxie-ty. As I said before, it is extremely important to use our break to rest and rejuvenate so we can perform better next semester, and after four long months of working overdrive, what needs more rejuvenation than our brains? There are many fun and easy ways to stay sharp over the winter holidays that can help you feel rested and ready to learn when January rolls around.

1. Learn something new Maybe it’s a new language, or a skill you want to hone, or an issue you want to read up on, but whatever it is, inter-cession is a great chance to teach your-self something new without the pres-sure of it being required of you. With-out homework, tests, and deadlines, teaching yourself something new can be extremely fun and beneficial. It gives you the chance to try something you haven’t before.

2. Get Organized Take advantage of the time off, and use this opportunity to clear out your school bag to make room for next se-mester. Even the most organized per-son accumulates extra stuff over the course of the semester, so go through everything you have and clear out whatever you don’t need. A clear space does wonders to clear your mind.

Cont. on page 3

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As a connoisseur of food, I have learned the best combos of food that you can get at Sodexo on the Westside Campus and I’m here to share them with you.

Just want pepperoni and sala-mi on your sandwich like a Sub-way spicy Italian? No problem!

Ask for a BMT without Ham!

Want some fruit on your salad? Get mandarin oranges or peach-

es as a side and add them on to your salad to make your salad extra fun.

Want strawberries on your Friday waffle but they don’t have any? Drizzle a little of the strawberry flavoring from the soda machine

on your waffle to give it some straw-berry twist.

Want your apple cider from The Daily Grind to taste like apple pie? Ask them to add some caramel in

there. Boom, apple pie in a cup.

Want a crispy chicken salad? Make your salad and flex a side of 3 chicken ten-

ders and add it to your salad.

Want sauce all over your pasta but the bowl is too full to mix it up without dropping pasta? Take the 2nd bowl from underneath,

flip it and place it on top, and then shake! Now your pasta is evenly sauced.

Want to make homemade ice cream sandwiches? Flex a couple

cookies and your favorite pint of Ben and Jerry’s, cut the ice cream with a knife sideways, and place it between

the 2 cookies. Now you have a home-made sweet treat! (Works with gluten free cookies, too!)

DIY Spicy Nuggets? Add some Ca-jun seasoning to your nuggets from the spices they leave out near

the microwave.

Want your breakfast sandwich on a bagel? Grab a bagel and give it to The Grille and ask

them to make it on the bagel! (sometimes they make a couple rain-bow bagels, but you have to get there by 8 to get one because they go fast!)

DIY Stir fry? Grab some chicken and veggies from the salad bar and meal swipe a salad, then go to your

dorm, make some ramen noodles, drain the broth, and boom, you have yourself some homemade stir fry.

Grab some plain pasta, grab some soup, add the soup to the pasta

and you have some SUPER SOUP!

Want some mini chicken parme-sans? Grab some chicken nug-gets, a side of marinara sauce

from Pomodoro’s, and a little side of parmesan cheese. Now stack that up, and enjoy!

Now you have all my secrets! Go spice up your food experience. If you know something I don’t, email me! I love try-ing new things! [email protected]

You’ve probably seen the signs for Gab & GROW, a podcast about resources, people, events and ideas that will help you be more successful at WCSU. You may want to check out some of these podcasts from this year and last.

Study Skills & Test Taking

What Is An ARM?

The Women’s Center & Healthy Rela-tionships

Using the PASS Tutors

Preparing for Finals

Internships & Co-Ops

AccessAbilities

Services

More Finals Prep Advice

by Michael Newman, Centennial ARM

3. Balance your social life The holidays are a nightmare for some, because social interaction is nearly unavoidable. For others, the holidays are the best time of year for that same reason. Wherever you land on the spectrum, it’s im-portant to get a mix of both. Be as open with your family and old friends as you can, trying to em-brace the friendly, giving spirit of the season; but also make time to

do something quiet by yourself to make sure you’re still taking care of yourself. Moderation is key.

As relaxing as the winter holidays can and should be, if we let our minds take a com-plete vacation, starting up next semester will be as hard as getting out of bed the morning after a big holiday party. So let’s take small, manageable steps towards keeping ourselves sharp over these next few weeks.

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V8#3— Nov., 2019

Continued from page 1— Stay Sharp Over the Holidays

Self-Care is a very popular top-ic in today’s media and pop cul-ture. Although this is obviously a very positive change com-pared to being out of tune with your mental health, there are a few drawbacks due to the mislabeling of what is and is not actually self-care. Self-Care is critical to a happy and healthy life, but you must be realistic about how you're applying it. In my experience, I have seen quite a few people, teens and adults alike, misla-beling actions they are taking as “self-care”, when in reality they are actually adding to their stress. Hopefully this will help you identify if you fit into this category, and show you how to better your self-care so it is effective. A really great phrase to describe improper self-care is “You’re mopping up the floor, when the sink is overflowing!” This means that you’re wasting your time trying

to coun-teract the symp-toms of stress, without actually solving the prob-lem that’s causing the stress in the first place. Are you buying a $7.00 iced

latte when you only have $15.00 in your account to “treat yourself”?

Are you doing a face mask at 10pm when you have a term paper due at midnight that needs a lot more work?

Are you skipping your 8am to get more sleep regularly, shrugging it off as a form of self care?

If this is you, then I am here to tell you that you are most defi-

nitely mopping up the floor when the sink is overflowing. A lot of times, self-care is not as glamorous as it is portrayed. Yes, self-care can be a face mask, or treating yourself eve-ry once in a while, but it also is proper time management so you’re not overwhelmed with deadlines, or keeping up with your budget and finances. Next time you are overwhelmed, try to think about what is actually the root of the problem in-stead. This will be the most effective form of self-care you can have.

When Is Self-Care NOT Self-Care? by Caitie Barry, Grasso ARM

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V8#3—Nov., 2019

“A deadline is a beautiful thing.” That’s Maira Kalman, an artist and illustrator of books for children and adults, in an interview for “inspirational” magazine Dumbo Feather.

In the Atlantic article “The Pro-crastination Doom Loop—and How to Break It”, Depaul Psychology pro-fessor Joseph Ferrari, among other experts, explains how pro-crastination happens: (1) We delay action because we feel like we're in the wrong mood to complete a task, and (2) We assume that our mood will change in the near future.

This behavior isn’t limited to students struggling with their grades. Honors students who regularly pull all As come in regular-ly with debilitating pro-crastination habits and poor planning (they just might be better at repair-ing and addressing their mistakes - see “Academic First Aid”).

Researcher Keith Ericson points out in his 2014 paper on the Interac-tion of Memory and Procrastination that many procrastinators are natu-rally and naively overconfident in their memory and ability to return to tasks in the future and before a deadline. If you’re confident in your memory and you’re also leaving the work for the indeterminate future, you’re likely to end up at or past a deadline before you get the chance

to correct your behavior.

These habits lead to guilt, anxiety, and a mix of other bad emotions that our brains reward us with after waiting “too long” to do the work or using our time unwisely. Worse? When we feel anxious, guilty, and unproductive, we’re more likely to feel like we’re in the “wrong mood” to do the work needed to feel bet-

ter! That’s the Doom Loop - a circle of unproductive negative feelings that leads to a pile of unfinished work and a debilitating anxiety head-ache.

Are you a chronic procrastinator who breaks through most lifehacks, timers, or calendars meant to fix your behavior? Rather than trying to circumvent your instincts entirely with quirky systems, some experts recommend leaning in to the moti-

vating nature of “last minute” work. Your brain is wired to perform when it knows consequences (and re-wards) are right around the corner. Some can beat the Doom Loop by planning their calendar around spending more dedicated time on a project closer to a deadline. Would this work for you? Consider a week or day solely focused on one final, rather than a month of scheduling

short unmotivated work ses-sions that feel “skippable” until a guilty mindset forces the issue.

We need deadlines - wheth-er we meet them or miss them - because they create that sense of responsibility that we need to be productive. The first step is figuring out how best to swing our way out of a destructive cycle.

Kalman likes ritual, repeti-tion, and a good (beautiful) looming deadline: she says “it puts [her] into a framework.” Armed with an understanding of what a destructive doom loop looks like, start thinking about how you can make a

similar framework for yourself around your final deadlines this se-mester. Don’t put too much faith in your memory, and schedule time that you trust yourself to take ad-vantage of. It’s natural to beat your-self up for making mistakes, but catch yourself when you use your mood to justify procrastination, and see if you can redirect that impulse into a positive, productive routine.

DEADlines: Beating Destructive Procrastination

Based on Mood by Audrey Redpath, Pinney ARM

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V8#3—Nov., 2019

With finals slowing approaching here are some tips that I think are helpful when preparing for

them.

1. Create your own study guide.

While many teachers provide a study guide, creating your own can help you understand the

material better. Outlining the important information you need to learn can be helpful, both in its creation and to refer to during your studies.

2. Ask questions

Your professors and TAs are there to help! Ask them ques-tions regarding the material and the exam so that you’re prepared when exam time ar-rives.

3. Attend the review session.

Review sessions offer vital in-formation on exam format, what will be on the exam and key concepts you should be fo-cusing your studies on.

4. Start early.

If you always start ahead of schedule, you’ll never be cram-ming the night before an exam. You’ll almost always perform better in doing so!

5. Organize a group study ses-sion.

It can be helpful to study in groups – sometimes. Evaluate whether or not studying with others will be beneficial to the subject as well as your learning

process.

6. Study things not on the study guide.

Study guides aren't always comprehensive – they’re just suggestions of the main con-cepts to learn. Use your study guide for its intended purpose: a guide. Be sure to fill in the blanks with related infor-mation.

7. Take breaks.

You won’t be able to memorize or comprehend all the material at once. Balance is key - ensure

that you reward learning with break time to recharge and re-lax.

8. Stay well-rested.

There’s a lot to be said about a good night’s sleep. Make sure you’re well-rested so that you can be fully focused during your exams.

9. Create a study schedule and follow it.

Splitting the material into chunks you can actually achieve can be very beneficial. That way, you can keep track of what you’ve accomplished in-stead of looking at the big pic-ture and getting overwhelmed.

10. Prioritize your study time.

Some exams will be more diffi-cult than others, some you may find easier to study for. Some may be worth more of your grade than others. Make sure to evaluate all of your exams to

consider and determine all of the involved factors so you can study accord-ingly.

11. Study for the style of exam.

If it’s multiple choice, you’ll need to know definitions and concepts. For essay exams, fo-cus on your understanding of all the concepts presented, with examples in mind.

12. Quiz yourself.

If you think about and create actual exam questions, you will likely become more familiar with what you need to study and, in the meantime, familiar-ize yourself with the type of language that will be on the exam. Draft potential exam questions and quiz yourself so that you can set expectations of what you need to focus on.

13. Meet with your professor or TA.

Often times, meeting with an instructor, whether it’s a pro-fessor or a TA, can give you helpful hints for what to study and ways to prepare for the exam.

14. Reorganize your notes.

Evaluate and reorganize your notes into what’s important, outlining important concepts,

formulas dates and definitions so they’re easy to understand.

15. Pace yourself.

Make sure you stay focused and don’t burn yourself out. A great way to do so is to pace yourself rather than opting for the dreaded all-nighter. You can easily pace yourself by fol-

Cont. on page 6

by Tamia Scott, Litchfield ARM

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V8#3—Nov., 2019

lowing tips like starting early, creating a study schedule and taking breaks when necessary!

16. Teach classmates.

Learning by teaching is a meth-od that really works! If you work with a study buddy and explain concepts to one another, you're re-learning the material all over again. It's a great way to reinforce what you've learned and help someone in the meantime!

17. Revolve your focus.

Switching up your subjects is a helpful way to learn everything for your exams while prevent-ing burnout on one topic. Make sure to switch it up before your eyes glaze over! That way, you can keep studying for longer periods of time while maintain-ing your focus.

18. Color code it.

Create a system that allows you to color code material that's

going to be on the exam by what's most important, less important, etc. This will help you focus on the most perti-nent information and prioritize

the material.

19. Visualize.

If you're a visu-al learner, it can help to cre-ate mind maps or diagrams to visualize how the concepts

you're learning relate to one another. This is especially bene-ficial when learning

concepts that build upon the understanding of one another, like in science courses.

20. Make it fun.

It's easier to focus if you adapt to studying by quizzing your-self, creating acronyms or re-warding yourself for a job well done. Create a game plan - liter-ally - that allows you to accom-

plish tasks and be rewarded for each. For example, why not re-ward yourself with a piece of chocolate or a sip of your coffee after you've finished a new chapter, or allow yourself five minutes of free time for every chunk of material you di-gest? You can even add in fun factors like power-ups

every time you learn a new defi-nition and lose a life, which means you add another defini-tion to your list when you get an answer wrong!

I hope these tips help you all as you get ready for finals. Please make sure that you’re actually

Studying, as studying is im-portant. It is essential for a person to develop a complete education and it helps with the opportunity to develop study habits, time management skills, and self-discipline.

Good luck :)

Rock Your Finals (cont. from pg. 5)

Optimizing

Sleep College life can often get caught up in the

hustle and bustle of constantly being on-the-go, 24/7. Sleep can get downgraded in the priority list when focusing on accomplishing assign-ments, meeting deadlines, and passing exams. However, sleep is a necessity in our lives, espe-cially for the restoration of our body. Sleep can affect everything from our brain power to our production and release of hormones, to even our physical performance. Therefore, we need to find a way to better optimize our sleep.

Did you know that it often doesn’t matter the amount of time you spend laying in your bed resting your eyes, but more about the quality of sleep that you obtain? Below are a few tips to help you to better optimize your sleep that re-quire no medications, fancy mattresses, or mira-cles. Cont. on pg. 7

by Sara Slaiby, Newbury & Fairfield ARM

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V8#3—Nov., 2019

Lines for Winter

By MARK STRAND

Tell yourself

as it gets cold and gray falls from the air

that you will go on

walking, hearing

the same tune no matter where

you find yourself—

inside the dome of dark

or under the cracking white

of the moon’s gaze in the valley of snow.

Tonight as it gets cold

tell yourself

what you know which is nothing

but the tune your bones play

as you keep going. And you will be able

for once to lie down under the small fire

of winter stars.

And if it happens that you cannot

go on or turn back

and you find yourself

where you will be at the end,

tell yourself

in that final flowing of cold through your limbs

that you love what you are.

Mark Strand, "Lines for Winter" from Selected Poems. Copyright © 1979 by Mark Strand.

Expose yourself during the day to as much natural light as possible. The body has a sys-tem known as the circadian rhythm which balances the body’s ability to stay awake as well as fall asleep. By ex-posing yourself to as much natural light as possible dur-ing the day, it will keep the body’s circadian rhythm on track.

Along with exposing yourself to as much light as possible during the day, you also want to minimize any natu-ral lights or blue lights prior to bedtime. By exposing yourself to natural lights, your circadian rhythm recog-nizes the body as still in ‘awake-mode’ and therefore inhibits your ability to fall asleep. Phones have fea-tures now that allow you to turn on “night-mode” which inhibits the blue light from your phone screen. If possi-ble, minimizing all screens up to two hours before bed would optimize your sleep.

Set a schedule. College can be unpredictable, and bed times may vary greatly. How-ever, if possible, maintaining somewhat of a wake/sleep time schedule can greatly benefit your sleep quality. By doing so, your body be-comes accustomed to a gen-eral time frame of when sleep is pre-dicted/needed, and when sleep is not appropriate.

Accompanying setting a schedule, it also is important to mini-mize naps during the day. It is understandable that be-tween busy college sched-ules a five-minute nap to rest

your eyes may feel as though it is the best sleep you’ve received in a while, and quite honestly, power naps are greatly beneficial. However, long naps of an hour or longer can inhibit your body’s ability to obtain sleep later in the night. Therefore, powernaps are recommended, but after 3o minutes it is back to the nor-mal daily schedule!

Limit your food intake prior to bedtime. It is recommended that you consume dinner a few hours prior to bedtime to produce optimal sleep. Studies have debated whether a specific food in-take may affect sleep more than others, however it has been concluded that nearly any food, if ingested in a large enough quantity be-fore bedtime, can greatly affect the body’s ability to fall asleep.

Limit a large fluid intake before bedtime. If you ingest large amounts of fluid prior to bedtime, there is a large pos-sibility that you will be up throughout the night to use the restroom, which can in-hibit your body’s ability to fall back into a sleep. There-fore, it is important to drink

enough fluids that you will not dehydrate your-self or wake up thirsty, but not so much that you are constantly waking up.

Overall, with finals slow-ly approaching it is im-

portant to optimize your sleep so that you wake feeling rested and ready to go for all your exams!

tips are just some of the most common pieces of advice we are given coming into college, but we seem to always forget that even though we consider walking with a friend or carrying pepper spray as common sense, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take these precau-tions. If you’re going to the city for a day, or walking around Midtown at night, please re-member to be safe and be aware of your sur-roundings, and always remember to trust your instincts while walking alone. If you have any questions or want to learn more, go to a professional and see what you can do to make your walks safer.

Staying Safe on Campus—Cont. from pg. 8

Optimizing Sleep—Cont. from pg. 6

Housing Announcements:

Thanksgiving Break—is late this year. We close the halls on Tues-day, November 26th at 6 pm. If you need to stay for that night or any of the break, you can do so at no cost, but you MUST fill out a request to stay form. Forms will be available at your building’s info desks in early November. Halls reopen after the break on Sunday, December 1 @ 1 pm.

Intersession/Semester Break—some of you may be interested in staying on campus for the semester break. Pinney and Centen-nial Halls will re-main open for break for those who register and pay. If you are not currently assigned to either WH or CH, you must find someone currently assigned in these buildings who agrees to al-low you to utilize their room for the break, and all of their apt./suitemates must also sign and agree. If you don’t know anyone in the building, we may be able to assist you with a space, so please check with the HRL office.

Intersession Housing is NOT includ-ed as part of the room and board package, so if you wish to stay for break, there is a charge of $315/week for each week you wish to stay. There is no food service offered during the break.

The Residence Halls close for the In-tersession/Semester break on Friday, December

13th @ 6 pm. You must move out for break no later than 24 hours after your last final, or by Friday at 6 pm. If you are changing rooms—whether within your building or to a new building— you must remove ALL of your belongings before leav-ing, and you may move your things into your new room assignment when we re-open the buildings on January 20th.

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V8#3—Nov., 2019

We have all heard the same thing: Never walk alone at night, always have a buddy, and make sure you are aware of your sur-roundings. That doesn’t make of these things less true; you should be aware of your surroundings, and should try your best to not walk home alone at night.

But who is mostly being told this? For those women, girls, and those who identify as female, we are always told we should not be by ourselves at night and to be extra, extra careful. The thing is, it’s not just women who need to know how to stay safe at night; everybody needs to know. So how does one take precautions when it’s even simply walking around by yourself?

Walk with a friend: This is probably one of the easiest ways to make sure you get home safe. Not only do you get to catch up with your friend and talk about what happened that day, but you also have a buddy where you can make sure both of you get home.

Don’t wear headphones: To be aware of your surroundings, you need to be able to hear and see everything around you. If you’re walking alone at night while wearing noise canceling head-phones, you won’t be able to hear anything. If you are going to wear headphones of any sort, please try to keep one ear free.

Pepper Spray: Now you might think this is too over the top for simply walking back to your dorm at night from class, but this item is perfect if you are not self-defense trained and want some-thing that is cost efficient. Most pepper sprays are sold online, and they are easy to use. They are also made to be put on your keychain for when you are walk-ing to your house or car.

Trust your gut: Sometimes you

might think you are being really paranoid and talk yourself into ignoring your instincts. When it comes to being alone at night, don’t ignore them! Trust your gut. If you think that person who has been following you for the last ten minutes might be dangerous, it is better to be safe and to get yourself out of that situation. Go to a public place and ask for help, or pretend you are meeting up with a friend to throw off the person following you.

Walk confidently: Studies have been done showing that walking confidently will make you less likely to become a target. This means not looking at the ground while walking and keep strong posture so they are least likely to sneak up behind you by surprise.

Let a friend or family member know where you are: Since a majority of us have phones, this one should be no problem. If you plan on walking home from work or class, let someone know where you are coming from so that they know when you’re sup-posed to be home. This way, someone does know where you are and they know you are safe.

Take self-defense classes: If you are really that worried about traveling or walking alone at night, take a self-defense class. Some YMCAs or gyms hold clas-ses for members and the com-munity for decent prices, check local women centers (you don’t have to be one to go,) or look online for places in your area. Even ask your local police depart-ment where you could go for basic self-defense training.

It does not matter what gen-der you are, you deserve to be and feel safe even if it’s walking from your dorm to the cafe. These

by

Angela Nicastro, Pinney ARM

Cont. on pg. 7